RE: More Word-97 Woes with valid JADE output

["joseph, Gershon" <Gershon_joseph@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dave,

I've lots of experience (mainly bitter) writing and even delivering large
documents in Word format. Here's how I've succeeded to date:

- Break your Word documents up into one file per chapter (this usually
ensures each individual Word file is not more than about 100 pages).

- Create a separate file for your front matter, which includes the TOC and
any other lists you may have. Use the Word TOC fields for TOC, LOF, LOT,
etc. Use RD fields (hidden fields which reference in the other files for
purposes of generating the TOCs).

I don't know how to break up the file like this using Jade + RTF backend. I
found Jade's RTF backend could not produce the fancy RTF my customers
expect. I use Omnimark programs to generate RTF files from my SGML source.
Contact me offline if you'd like more information. I'm willing to share my
Omnimark code with anyone wishing to use it ;-). I've resigned from Comverse
Network Systems, so this email address will die on 10 November. Feel free to
contact me at home josephg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx or look out for my new email
address when I post from my new position at Mainsoft Corp.

Hope this helps...

Gershon

Gershon Leib Joseph
DOCUMENTATION TECHNOLOGIES MANAGER
Comverse Network Systems
Tel: +972-3-645-2001
Fax: +972-3-645-4100
email: gershon_joseph@xxxxxxxxxxxxx


-----Original Message-----
From: Nilsson, David F [mailto:dfnilsson@xxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Thursday, 14 October 1999 18:39
To: 'dssslist@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx'
Subject: RE: More Word-97 Woes with valid JADE output


I assume you have fast saves turned off. If fast saves are not turned off,
the document can grow without your knowledge and may behave oddly,
particularly if you are connected to a network. If fast saves have been on,
the document will usually shrink considerably if you turn them off and then
save the document.

Word97 does have some never-fixed memory problems that can cause graphics to
disappear when a document is reopened. Some of my colleagues have had
graphics replaced by a red X when they've reopened documents. All the
graphics have had to be reinserted. Word does seem unreliable for documents
over 100 pages when those documents have been created and edited in Word
(paragraph numbering, in particular, can vanish in unpredictable ways).

I'm concerned, however, that you are having problems when just using Word as
an output format for files in a markup language.

My company uses an in-house markup language for certain engineering
documents and then uses a custom engine (not using DSSSL) to create
FrameMaker, Word, or HTML files. Most large documents (1,000-plus pages)
have been created in Frame, but we now have a client who wants all files in
Word. Does anyone have experience with creating large Word files from files
in a markup language?

Dave N.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
David F. Nilsson
Training & Documentation Dept.
Union Switch & Signal Inc.
1000 Technology Drive
Pittsburgh, PA 15219
mailto:dfnilsson@xxxxxxxxxx


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